Germans

The Holy Roman Empire in 972 (red line) and 1035 (red dots) with the Kingdom of Germany, including Lotharingia, marked in blue

The first information about the peoples living in what is now Germany was provided by the Roman general and politician Julius Caesar, who gave an account of his conquest of Gaul in the 1st century BC. Gaul included parts of what is now Germany, west of the Rhine river. He specifically noted the potential future threat which could come from the related people east of the river. Under Caesar's successors, the Romans began to conquer and control the entire region between the Rhine and the Elbe which centuries later constituted the core of medieval Germany. These efforts were significantly hampered by the victory of a local alliance led by Arminius at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, which is considered a defining moment in German history.[30] The early Germanic peoples were later famously described in more detail in Germania by the 1st century Roman historian Tacitus. At this time, the Germanic peoples, or Germani, were fragmented into a large number of peoples who were frequently in conflict with both the Roman Empire and one another.[31] He described them as a diverse group, dominating a much larger area than Germany, stretching to the Vistula in the east, and Scandinavia in the north.

At the time of Caesar's invasion, much of Central Europe was inhabited by Celts and strongly influenced by the celtic La Tène material culture.[30] Since at least the 2nd century BC, the Germanic languages associated with these peoples began approaching the Rhine areas.[32] The resulting demographic situation closer to the Romans was likely an assimilation of Celts and migrating Germanic peoples.[30] Scholars generally agree that it is possible to speak of Germanic languages existing as early as 500 BCE.[33] These Germanic languages are believed to have dispersed towards the Rhine from the direction of the Jastorf culture, which was a Celtic influenced culture that existed in the Pre-Roman Iron Age, in the region near the Elbe river. It is likely that first Germanic consonant shift, which defines the Germanic language family, occurred during this period.[34] The earlier Nordic Bronze Age of southern Scandinavia also shows definite population and material continuities with the Jastorf Culture,[35] but it is unclear whether these indicate ethnic continuity.[36]

Maps depicting the Ostsiedlung, also known as the German eastward settlement. The left map shows the situation in roughly 895 AD; the right map shows it about 1400 AD. Germanic peoples (left map) and Germans (right map) are shown in light red.

The Holy Roman Empire after the Peace of Westphalia, 1648

German ethnicity emerged in medieval times among the descendants of the Romanized Germanic peoples in the area of modern western Germany, between the Rhine and Elbe rivers, including Franks, Frisians, Saxons, Thuringii, Alemanni and Baiuvarii.[30] These peoples had been under the dominance of the western Franks starting with Clovis I, who established control of the Romanized and Frankish population of Gaul in the 5th century, and began a process of conquering the peoples east of the Rhine. The regions long continued to be divided into "Stem duchies", corresponding to the old ethnic designations.[32]

By the early 9th century AD, large parts of Europe were united under the rule of the Frankish leader Charlemagne, who expanded the Frankish empire in several directions including east of the Rhine, where he consolidated power over the Saxons and Frisians, thus establishing the Carolingian Empire. Charlemagne was crowned emperor by Pope Leo I in 800.[32] In the generations after Charlemagne the empire was partitioned at the Treaty of Verdun (843), eventually resulting in the long-term separation between the states of West Francia, Middle Francia and East Francia. Beginning with Henry the Fowler, non-Frankish dynasties also ruled the eastern kingdom, and under his son Otto I, East Francia, which was mostly German, constituted the core of the Holy Roman Empire.[37] Also under control of this loosely controlled empire were the previously independent kingdoms of Italy, Burgundy, and Lotharingia, a Roman and Frankish area which contained some of the oldest and most important German cities including Aachen, Cologne and Trier. Leaders of the stem duchies which constituted this eastern kingdom — Bavaria, Franconia, Swabia, and Saxony ― continued to wield considerable power independently of the king.[32] German kings were elected by members of the noble families, who often sought to have weak kings elected in order to preserve their own independence. This prevented an early unification of the Germans.[38][39]

A warrior nobility dominated the feudal German society of the Middle Ages, while most of the German population consisted of peasants with few political rights.[32] The church played an important role among Germans in the Middle Ages, and competed with the nobility for power.[40] Between the 11th and 13th centuries, Germans actively participated in five Crusades to "liberate" the Holy Land.[40] From the beginnings of the kingdom, its dynasties also participated in a push eastwards into Slavic-speaking regions. At the Saxon Eastern March in the north, the Polabian Slavs east of the Elbe were conquered over generations of often brutal conflict. Under the later control of powerful German dynasties it became an important region within modern Germany, and home to its modern capital, Berlin. German population also moved eastwards from the 11th century, in what is known as the Ostsiedlung.[39] Over time, Slavic and German-speaking populations assimilated, meaning that many modern Germans have substantial Slavic ancestry.[37] From the 12th century, many Germans settled as merchants and craftsmen in the Kingdom of Poland, where they came to constitute a significant proportion of the population in many urban centers such as Gdańsk.[37] During the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights began conquering the Old Prussians, and established what would eventually become the powerful German state of Prussia.[39]

Further south, Bohemia and Hungary developed as kingdoms with their own non-German speaking elites. The Austrian March on the Middle Danube stopped expanding eastwards towards Hungary in the 11th century. Under Ottokar II, Bohemia (corresponding roughly to modern Czechia) became a kingdom within the empire, and even managed to take control of Austria, which was German-speaking. However, the late 13th century saw the election of Rudolf I of the House of Habsburg to the imperial throne, and he was able to acquire Austria for his own family. The Habsburgs would continue to play an important role in European history for centuries afterwards. The Holy Roman Empire itself remained weak, and by the late Middle Ages much of Lotharingia and Burgundy had come under the control of French dynasts, the House of Valois-Burgundy and House of Valois-Anjou. Italy, Switzerland and Savoy were no longer subject to effective imperial control.

Trade increased and there was a specialization of the arts and crafts.[40] In the late Middle Ages the German economy grew under the influence of urban centers, which increased in size and wealth and formed powerful leagues, such as the Hanseatic League and the Swabian League, in order to protect their interests, often through supporting the German kings in their struggles with the nobility.[39] These urban leagues significantly contributed to the development of German commerce and banking. German merchants of Hanseatic cities settled in cities throughout Northern Europe beyond the German lands.[41]

Boundaries of the German Confederation in red, Prussia in blue, Austria in yellow, and other member states in grey. Large parts of Austria and some parts of Prussia did not belong to the German Confederation.

Victims of the Holocaust in a mass grave at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

Germans expelled from Poland in 1948

The Habsburg dynasty managed to maintain their grip upon the imperial throne in the early modern period. While the empire itself continued to be largely de-centralized, the Habsburgs own personal power increased outside of the core German lands. Charles V personally inherited control of the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia, the wealthy low countries (roughly modern Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands), the Kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Sicily, Naples, and Sardinia, and the Dukedom of Milan. Of these, the Bohemian and Hungarian titles remained connected to the imperial throne for centuries, making Austria a powerful multilingual empire in its own right. On the other hand, the low countries went to the Spanish crown and continued to evolve separately from Germany.

The introduction of printing by the German inventor Johannes Gutenberg contributed to the formation of a new understanding of faith and reason. At this time, the German monk Martin Luther pushed for reforms within the Catholic Church. Luther's efforts culminated in the Protestant Reformation.[40]

Religious schism was a leading cause of the Thirty Years' War, a conflict that tore apart the Holy Roman Empire and its neighbours, leading to the death of millions of Germans. The terms of the Peace of Westphalia (1648) ending the war, included a major reduction in the central authority of the Holy Roman Emperor.[42] Among the most powerful German states to emerge in the aftermath was Protestant Prussia, under the rule of the House of Hohenzollern.[43] Charles V and his Habsburg dynasty defended Roman Catholicism.

In the 18th century, German culture was significantly influenced by the Enlightenment.[42]

After centuries of political fragmentation, a sense of German unity began to emerge in the 18th century.[24] The Holy Roman Empire continued to decline until being dissolved altogether by Napoleon in 1806. In central Europe, the Napoleonic wars ushered in great social, political and economic changes, and catalyzed a national awakening among the Germans. By the late 18th century, German intellectuals such as Johann Gottfried Herder articulated the concept of a German identity rooted in language, and this notion helped spark the German nationalist movement, which sought to unify the Germans into a single nation state.[38] Eventually, shared ancestry, culture and language (though not religion) came to define German nationalism.[31] The Napoleonic Wars ended with the Congress of Vienna (1815), and left most of the German states loosely united under the German Confederation. The confederation came to be dominated by the Catholic Austrian Empire, to the dismay of many German nationalists, who saw the German Confederation as an inadequate answer to the German Question.[43]

Throughout the 19th century, Prussia continued to grow in power.[44] In 1848, German revolutionaries set up the temporary Frankfurt Parliament, but failed in their aim of forming a united German homeland. The Prussians proposed an Erfurt Union of the German states, but this effort was torpedoed by the Austrians through the Punctation of Olmütz (1850), recreating the German Confederation. In response, Prussia sought to use the Zollverein customs union to increase its power among the German states.[43] Under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck, Prussia expanded its sphere of influence and together with its German allies defeated Denmark in the Second Schleswig War and soon after Austria in the Austro-Prussian War, subsequently establishing the North German Confederation. In 1871, the Prussian coalition decisively defeated the Second French Empire in the Franco-Prussian War, annexing the German speaking region of Alsace-Lorraine. After taking Paris, Prussia and their allies proclaimed the formation of a united German Empire.[38]

In the years following unification, German society was radically changed by numerous processes, including industrialization, rationalization, secularization and the rise of capitalism.[44] German power increased considerably and numerous overseas colonies were established.[45] During this time, the German population grew considerably, and many emigrated to other countries (mainly North America), contributing to the growth of the German diaspora. Competition for colonies between the Great Powers contributed to the outbreak of World War I, in which the German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires formed the Central Powers, an alliance that was ultimately defeated, with none of the empires comprising it surviving the aftermath of the war. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires were both dissolved and partitioned, resulting in millions of Germans becoming ethnic minorities in other countries.[46] The monarchical rulers of the German states, including the German emperor Wilhelm II, were overthrown in the November Revolution which led to the establishment of the Weimar Republic. The Germans of the Austrian side of the Dual Monarchy proclaimed the Republic of German-Austria, and sought to be incorporated into the German state, but this was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles and Treaty of Saint-Germain.[45]

What many Germans saw as the "humiliation of Versailles",[47] continuing traditions of authoritarian and antisemitic ideologies,[44] and the Great Depression all contributed to the rise of Austrian-born Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, who after coming to power democratically in the early 1930s, abolished the Weimar Republic and formed the totalitarian Third Reich. In his quest to subjugate Europe, six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. WWII resulted in widespread destruction and the deaths of tens of millions of soldiers and civilians, while the German state was partitioned. About 12 million Germans had to flee or were expelled from Eastern Europe.[48] Significant damage was also done to the German reputation and identity,[46] which became far less nationalistic than it previously was.[47]

The German states of West Germany and East Germany became focal points of the Cold War, but were reunified in 1990. Although there were fears that the reunified Germany might resume nationalist politics, the country is today widely regarded as a "stablizing actor in the heart of Europe" and a "promoter of democratic integration".[47]